Telecommunications apparatus and methods

ABSTRACT

A wireless telecommunications system in which downlink communications are made using a radio interface that spans a system frequency bandwidth (host carrier) and supports at least some communications from a base station to least some terminal devices within a plurality of restricted frequency bands (virtual carriers) which are narrower than and within the system frequency bandwidth. A terminal device conveys an indication of its identity, e.g. an IMSI, to the base station during an initial connection procedure as the terminal device seeks to access the radio interface. The terminal device and the base station both determine a selected restricted frequency band from among the plurality of restricted frequency bands based on the identity of the terminal device in the same way. Thus the terminal device and the base station select the same restricted frequency band and can accordingly configure their respective transceivers to allow for downlink communications between them within the selected restricted frequency band.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.15/892,441, filed Feb. 9, 2018, which is a continuation of U.S.application Ser. No. 14/906,442, filed Jan. 20, 2016 (now U.S. Pat. No.9,918,315), which is based on PCT filing PCT/EP2014/060199, filed May19, 2014, and claims priority to EP 13180722.4, filed Aug. 16, 2013, theentire contents of each are incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND Field

The present disclosure relates to telecommunications apparatus andmethods.

Description of Related Art

The “background” description provided herein is for the purpose ofgenerally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of thepresently named inventors, to the extent it is described in thisbackground section, as well as aspects of the description which may nototherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neitherexpressly or impliedly admitted as prior art against the presentinvention.

The present invention relates to wireless telecommunications systems andmethods, and in particular to systems and methods for restrictedbandwidth/virtual carrier operation in wireless telecommunicationsystems.

Mobile communication systems have evolved over the past ten years or sofrom the GSM System (Global System for Mobile communications) to the 3Gsystem and now include packet data communications as well as circuitswitched communications. The third generation partnership project (3GPP)is developing a fourth generation mobile communication system referredto as Long Term Evolution (LTE) in which a core network part has beenevolved to form a more simplified architecture based on a merging ofcomponents of earlier mobile radio network architectures and a radioaccess interface which is based on Orthogonal Frequency DivisionMultiplexing (OFDM) on the downlink and Single Carrier FrequencyDivision Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) on the uplink.

Third and fourth generation mobile telecommunication systems, such asthose based on the 3GPP defined UMTS and Long Term Evolution (LTE)architectures, are able to support a more sophisticated range ofservices than simple voice and messaging services offered by previousgenerations of mobile telecommunication systems.

For example, with the improved radio interface and enhanced data ratesprovided by LTE systems, a user is able to enjoy high data rateapplications such as mobile video streaming and mobile videoconferencing that would previously only have been available via a fixedline data connection. The demand to deploy third and fourth generationnetworks is therefore strong and the coverage area of these networks,i.e. geographic locations where access to the networks is possible, isexpected to increase rapidly.

The anticipated widespread deployment of third and fourth generationnetworks has led to the parallel development of a class of devices andapplications which, rather than taking advantage of the high data ratesavailable, instead take advantage of the robust radio interface andincreasing ubiquity of the coverage area. Examples include so-calledmachine type communication (MTC) applications, some of which are in somerespects typified by semi-autonomous or autonomous wirelesscommunication devices (MTC devices) communicating small amounts of dataon a relatively infrequent basis. Examples include so-called smartmeters which, for example, are located in a customer's home andperiodically transmit data back to a central MTC server relating to thecustomer's consumption of a utility such as gas, water, electricity andso on. Smart metering is merely one example of potential MTC deviceapplications. Further information on characteristics of MTC-type devicescan be found, for example, in the corresponding standards, such as ETSITS 122 368 V10.530 (2011-07)/3GPP TS 22.368 version 10.5.0 Release 10)[1].

Whilst it can be convenient for a terminal such as an MTC-type terminalto take advantage of the wide coverage area provided by a third orfourth generation mobile telecommunication network there are at presentdisadvantages. Unlike a conventional third or fourth generation mobileterminal such as a smartphone, a primary driver for MTC-type terminalswill be a desire for such terminals to be relatively simple andinexpensive. The type of functions typically performed by an MTC-typeterminal (e.g. simple collection and reporting/reception of relativelysmall amounts of data) do not require particularly complex processing toperform, for example, compared to a smartphone supporting videostreaming. However, third and fourth generation mobile telecommunicationnetworks typically employ advanced data modulation techniques andsupport wide bandwidth usage on the radio interface which can requiremore complex and expensive radio transceivers and decoders to implement.It is usually justified to include such complex elements in a smartphoneas a smartphone will typically require a powerful processor to performtypical smartphone type functions. However, as indicated above, there isnow a desire to use relatively inexpensive and less complex deviceswhich are nonetheless able to communicate using LTE-type networks.

With this in mind there has been proposed a concept of so-called“virtual carriers” operating within the bandwidth of a “host carrier”,for example, as described in GB 2 487 906 [2], GB 2 487 908 [3], GB 2487 780 [4], GB 2 488 513 [5], GB 2 487 757 [6], GB 2 487 909 [7], GB 2487 907 [8] and GB 2 487 782 [9]. One principle underlying the conceptof a virtual carrier is that a frequency subregion within a widerbandwidth host carrier is configured for use as a self-contained carrierfor at least some types of communications with certain types of terminaldevice.

In some implementations, such as described in references [2] to [9], alldownlink control signalling and user-plane data for terminal devicesusing the virtual carrier are conveyed within the frequency subregion. Aterminal device operating on the virtual carrier is made aware of therestricted frequency band and need only receive and decode acorresponding subset of transmission resources to receive data from thebase station. An advantage of this approach is to provide a carrier foruse by low-capability terminal devices capable of operating over onlyrelatively narrow bandwidths. This allows devices to communicate onLTE-type networks, without requiring the devices to support fullbandwidth operation. By reducing the bandwidth of the signal that needsto be decoded, the front end processing requirements (e.g., FFT, channelestimation, subframe buffering etc.) of a device configured to operateon a virtual carrier are reduced since the complexity of these functionsis generally related to the bandwidth of the signal received.

Other virtual carrier approaches for reducing the required complexity ofdevices configured to communicate over LTE-type networks are proposed inGB 2 497 743 [10] and GB 2 497 742 [11]. These documents propose schemesfor communicating data between a base station and a reduced-capabilityterminal device whereby physical-layer control information for thereduced-capability terminal device is transmitted from the base stationusing subcarriers selected from across a full host carrier frequencyband (as for conventional LTE terminal devices). However, higher-layerdata for reduced-capability terminal devices (e.g. user-plane data) istransmitted using only subcarriers selected from within a restrictedfrequency band which is smaller than and within the system frequencyband. Thus, this is an approach in which user-plane data for aparticular terminal device may be restricted to a subset of frequencyresources (i.e. a virtual carrier supported within the transmissionresources of a host carrier), whereas control signalling is communicatedusing the full bandwidth of the host carrier. The terminal device ismade aware of the restricted frequency band, and as such need onlybuffer and process data within this restricted frequency band duringperiods when higher-layer data is being transmitted. The terminal devicebuffers and processes the full system frequency band during periods whenphysical-layer control information is being transmitted. Thus, thereduced-capability terminal device may be incorporated in a network inwhich physical-layer control information is transmitted over a widefrequency range, but only needs to have sufficient memory and processingcapacity to process a smaller range of frequencies for the higher-layerdata. This approach may sometimes be referred to as a “T-shaped”allocation because area of the downlink time-frequency resource grid tobe used by the reduced-capability terminal device typically comprises agenerally T-shape.

Virtual carrier concepts thus allow terminal devices having reducedcapabilities, for example in terms of their transceiver bandwidth and/orprocessing power, to be supported within LTE-type networks. As notedabove, this can be useful for to allow relatively inexpensive and lowcomplexity devices to communicate using LTE-type networks.

In some situations more than one virtual carrier may be supported in ahost carrier. In this case the different virtual carriers are located atdifferent frequencies within the host carrier bandwidth and individualterminal devices are allocated to one of the virtual carriers. Thisapproach can be used to increase the number of terminal devices that canbe supported using virtual carrier communications. However, in order todo this, it is necessary for individual terminal devices and the basestation establish which frequency particular resources (i.e. which ofthe plurality of virtual carriers) is to be used by a given terminaldevice. Typically this requires some level of control signalling to beexchanged between the base station and the respective terminal devices,for example for the base station to inform the terminal device of whichvirtual carrier it is to be allocated to. This need for terminal devicespecific control signalling to be exchanged between the base station andthe terminal devices gives rise to some drawbacks. For example, therecan be an increase in signalling complexity with information beingexchanged in dedicated signalling during connection establishment, andmore generally, it gives rise to an increase in control signallingoverhead in the telecommunications system, particularly in the casewhere there are a high number of devices in a cell.

Accordingly, there is a desire for approaches for allocating specificterminal devices to specific virtual carriers in wirelesstelecommunications systems.

SUMMARY

According to a first aspect of the present disclosure, there is provideda method of operating a terminal device in a wireless telecommunicationssystem in which downlink communications are made by a base station usinga radio interface that spans a system frequency bandwidth (host carrier)and supports at least some communications with at least some terminaldevices within a plurality of restricted frequency bands (virtualcarriers) which are narrower than and within the system frequencybandwidth, the method comprising: selecting a restricted frequency bandfrom among the plurality of restricted frequency bands based on anidentifier for the terminal device; and configuring the terminal deviceto receive downlink communications from the base station within theselected restricted frequency band.

According to a second aspect of the present disclosure, there isprovided a terminal device for use in a wireless telecommunicationssystem in which downlink communications are made by a base station usinga radio interface that spans a system frequency bandwidth and supportsat least some communications with at least some terminal devices withina plurality of restricted frequency bands which are narrower than andwithin the system frequency bandwidth, the terminal device comprising aprocessor unit and a transceiver unit, and wherein the processor unit isconfigured to select a restricted frequency band from among theplurality of restricted frequency bands based on an identifier for theterminal device and to configure the transceiver unit to receivedownlink communications from the base station within the selectedrestricted frequency band.

According to a third aspect of the present disclosure, there is provideda method of operating a base station in a wireless telecommunicationssystem in which downlink communications are made by the base stationusing a radio interface that spans a system frequency bandwidth andsupports at least some communications with at least some terminaldevices within a plurality of restricted frequency bands which arenarrower than and within the system frequency bandwidth, the methodcomprising: selecting a restricted frequency band to be used fordownlink communications for a terminal device from among the pluralityof restricted frequency bands based on an identifier for the terminaldevice; and transmitting downlink communications to the terminal devicewithin the selected restricted frequency band.

According to a fourth aspect of the present disclosure, there isprovided a base station for use in a wireless telecommunications systemin which downlink communications are made by the base station using aradio interface that spans a system frequency bandwidth and supports atleast some communications with at least some terminal devices within aplurality of restricted frequency bands which are narrower than andwithin the system frequency bandwidth, the base station comprising aprocessor unit and a transceiver unit, and wherein the processor unit isconfigured to select a restricted frequency band to be used for downlinkcommunications with a terminal device from among the plurality ofrestricted frequency bands based on an identifier for the terminaldevice; and to configure the transceiver unit to transmit downlinkcommunications to the terminal device within the selected restrictedfrequency band.

Further respective aspects and features are defined by the appendedclaims.

The foregoing paragraphs have been provided by way of generalintroduction, and are not intended to limit the scope of the followingclaims. The described embodiments, together with further advantages,will be best understood by reference to the following detaileddescription taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A more complete appreciation of the disclosure and many of the attendantadvantages thereof will be readily obtained as the same becomes betterunderstood by reference to the following detailed description whenconsidered in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein likereference numerals designate identical or corresponding parts throughoutthe several views, and wherein:

FIG. 1 schematically represents an example of a LTE-type wirelesstelecommunication network;

FIG. 2 schematically represents some aspects of a LTE downlink radioframe structure;

FIG. 3 schematically represents some aspects of a LTE downlink radiosubframe structure;

FIG. 4 schematically represents some aspects of a LTE downlink radiosubframe structure associated with a host carrier supporting threevirtual carriers;

FIG. 5 schematically represents an adapted LTE-type wirelesstelecommunications system arranged in accordance with an example of thepresent disclosure; and

FIG. 6 is a signalling ladder-diagram schematically representing methodsof operation in accordance with certain examples of the presentdisclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 provides a schematic diagram illustrating some basicfunctionality of a wireless telecommunications network/system 100operating in accordance with LTE principles. Various elements of FIG. 1and their respective modes of operation are well-known and defined inthe relevant standards administered by the 3GPP (RTM) body and alsodescribed in many books on the subject, for example, Holma, H. andToskala, A. [12].

The network 100 includes a plurality of base stations 101 connected to acore network 102. Each base station provides a coverage area 103 (i.e. acell) within which data can be communicated to and from terminal devices104. Data are transmitted from base stations 101 to terminal devices 104within their respective coverage areas 103 via a radio downlink. Dataare transmitted from terminal devices 104 to the base stations 101 via aradio uplink. The core network 102 routes data to and from the terminaldevices 104 via the respective base stations 101 and provides functionssuch as authentication, mobility management, charging and so on.Terminal devices may also be referred to as mobile stations, userequipment (UE), user terminal, mobile radio, and so forth. Base stationsmay also be referred to as transceiver stations/nodeBs/e-NodeBs, and soforth.

Mobile telecommunications systems such as those arranged in accordancewith the 3GPP defined Long Term Evolution (LTE) architecture use anorthogonal frequency division multiplex (OFDM) based interface for theradio downlink (so-called OFDMA) and a single carrier frequency divisionmultiplex based interface for the radio uplink (so-called SC-FDMA). FIG.2 shows a schematic diagram illustrating an OFDM based LTE downlinkradio frame 201. The LTE downlink radio frame is transmitted from an LTEbase station (known as an enhanced Node B) and lasts 10 ms. The downlinkradio frame comprises ten subframes, each subframe lasting 1 ms. Aprimary synchronisation signal (PSS) and a secondary synchronisationsignal (SSS) are transmitted in the first and sixth subframes of the LTEframe. A physical broadcast channel (PBCH) is transmitted in the firstsubframe of the LTE frame.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a grid which illustrates the structureof an example conventional downlink LTE subframe (corresponding in thisexample to the first, i.e. left-most, subframe in the frame of FIG. 2).The subframe comprises a predetermined number of symbols which aretransmitted over a lms period. Each symbol comprises a predeterminednumber of orthogonal sub-carriers distributed across the bandwidth ofthe downlink radio carrier.

The example subframe shown in FIG. 3 comprises 14 symbols and 1200sub-carriers spread across a 20 MHz bandwidth. The smallest allocationof user data for transmission in LTE is a resource block comprisingtwelve sub-carriers transmitted over one slot (0.5 subframe). Forclarity, in FIG. 3, each individual resource element (a resource elementcomprises a single symbol on a single subcarrier) is not shown, insteadeach individual box in the subframe grid corresponds to twelvesub-carriers transmitted on one symbol.

FIG. 3 shows resource allocations for four LTE terminals 340, 341, 342,343. For example, the resource allocation 342 for a first LTE terminal(UE 1) extends over five blocks of twelve sub-carriers (i.e. 60sub-carriers), the resource allocation 343 for a second LTE terminal(UE2) extends over six blocks of twelve sub-carriers and so on.

Control channel data are transmitted in a control region 300 (indicatedby dotted-shading in FIG. 3) of the subframe comprising the first nsymbols of the subframe where n can vary between one and three symbolsfor channel bandwidths of 3 MHz or greater and where n can vary betweentwo and four symbols for channel bandwidths of 1.4 MHz. For the sake ofproviding a concrete example, the following description relates tocarriers with a channel bandwidth of 3 MHz or greater so the maximumvalue of n will be 3. The data transmitted in the control region 300includes data transmitted on the physical downlink control channel(PDCCH), the physical control format indicator channel (PCFICH) and thephysical HARQ indicator channel (PHICH).

PDCCH contains control data indicating which sub-carriers on whichsymbols of the subframe have been allocated to specific LTE terminals.Thus, the PDCCH data transmitted in the control region 300 of thesubframe shown in FIG. 3 would indicate that UE1 has been allocated theblock of resources identified by reference numeral 342, that UE2 hasbeen allocated the block of resources identified by reference numeral343, and so on.

PCFICH contains control data indicating the size of the control region(i.e. between one and three symbols).

PHICH contains HARQ (Hybrid Automatic Request) data indicating whetheror not previously transmitted uplink data has been successfully receivedby the network.

Symbols in a central band 310 of the time-frequency resource grid areused for the transmission of information including the primarysynchronisation signal (PSS), the secondary synchronisation signal (SSS)and the physical broadcast channel (PBCH). This central band 310 istypically 72 sub-carriers wide (corresponding to a transmissionbandwidth of 1.08 MHz). The PSS and SSS are synchronisation signals thatonce detected allow an LTE terminal device to achieve framesynchronisation and determine the cell identity of the enhanced Node Btransmitting the downlink signal. The PBCH carries information about thecell, comprising a master information block (MIB) that includesparameters that LTE terminals use to properly access the cell. Datatransmitted to individual LTE terminals on the physical downlink sharedchannel (PDSCH) can be transmitted in other resource elements of thesubframe.

FIG. 3 also shows a region of PDSCH containing system information andextending over a bandwidth of R344. A conventional LTE frame will alsoinclude reference signals which are not shown in FIG. 3 in the interestsof clarity.

FIG. 4 is a diagram which is similar to and will in many respect beunderstood from FIG. 3.

However, FIG. 4 differs from FIG. 3 in schematically representing adownlink radio subframe corresponding to a host carrier in which aplurality (in this case three) virtual carriers 401, 402, 403 (VCs) aresupported. The virtual carriers are labelled as VC1, VC2 and VC3 forease of reference, as schematically indicated in FIG. 4. The generaloperation of the virtual carriers represented in FIG. 4 may be inaccordance with previously-proposed schemes, for example as described inany of the above-identified documents [2] to [11]. Each virtual carrierthus represents a restricted subset of downlink transmission resourceswithin the overall transmission resource grid associated with the hostcarrier which may be used for communicating at least some informationwith certain types of terminal devices, for example, reduced capabilitymachine type communication terminal devices.

Thus, a conventional (i.e. non-reduced capability) terminal device maybe supported using the full bandwidth of the resource grid representedin FIG. 4 in accordance with conventional LTE techniques. Downlinkcommunications for a reduced capability terminal device, on the otherhand, may be restricted to transmission resources within one of thevirtual carriers to which the terminal device has been allocated.

In some cases the entirety of the downlink communications for thereduced-capability terminal device (i.e. including control signallingand higher layer/user-plane data) may be conveyed within thetransmission resources of one of the virtual carriers, for example inaccordance with the principles proposed in the above identifieddocuments [2] to [9]. This may be appropriate, for example, for aterminal device which cannot receive the full bandwidth of the hostcarrier (and hence cannot receive the entirety of the control region300).

In other cases the reduced capability terminal device may be able toreceive the full-bandwidth of the host carrier (and hence receive anddecode the control region 300), but may be restricted as to its abilityto buffer and decodes the entirety of the PDSCH region, and so maybuffer and decode only a subset of the downlink transmission resourcesspanning the virtual carrier to which the terminal device has beenallocated, for example in accordance with the “T-shaped allocation”principles proposed in the above identified documents [10] and [11].

However, regardless of the specific manner of virtual carrier operationto be employed in a given implementation, a terminal device to besupported using a virtual carrier needs to establish which particularrestricted frequency range is being used for the virtual carrier towhich it has been allocated. For example, a reduced-capability terminaldevice which is to be supported using virtual carrier operation in thecontext of the downlink subframe transmission resource grid representedin FIG. 4 must establish whether it is to be supported on virtualcarrier VC1, VC2 or VC3. As discussed above, one approach would be forthe base station to inform the reduced-capability terminal device of thevirtual carrier to which it has been allocated through dedicatedsignalling exchange during a connection procedure. However, again asnoted above, this can give rise to increased signalling complexity andincreased control signalling overhead.

FIG. 5 schematically shows a telecommunications system 500 according toan embodiment of the present disclosure. The telecommunications system500 in this example is based broadly around an LTE-type architecturewhich supports a plurality of virtual carriers such as schematicallyrepresented in FIG. 4. Many aspects of the operation of thetelecommunications system 500 are known and understood and are notdescribed here in detail in the interest of brevity. Operational aspectsof the telecommunications system 500 which are not specificallydescribed herein may be implemented in accordance with any knowntechniques, for example according to the current LTE-standards withmodifications as appropriate to incorporate virtual carrier operation,such as disclosed in GB 2 487 906 [2], GB 2 487 908 [3], GB 2 487 780[4], GB 2 488 513 [5], GB 2 487 757 [6], GB 2 487 909 [7], GB 2 487 907[8], GB 2 487 782 [9], GB 2 497 743 [10] and GB 2 497 742 [12], theentire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

The telecommunications system 500 comprises a core network part (evolvedpacket core) 502 coupled to a radio network part. The radio network partcomprises a base station (evolved-nodeB) 504 coupled to a plurality ofterminal devices. In this example, two terminal devices are shown,namely a first terminal device 506 and a second terminal device 508. Itwill of course be appreciated that in practice the radio network partmay comprise a plurality of base stations serving a larger number ofterminal devices across various communication cells. However, only asingle base station and two terminal devices are shown in FIG. 5 in theinterests of simplicity.

As with a conventional mobile radio network, the terminal devices 506,508 are arranged to communicate data to and from the base station(transceiver station) 504. The base station is in turn communicativelyconnected to a serving gateway, S-GW, (not shown) in the core networkpart which is arranged to perform routing and management of mobilecommunications services to the terminal devices in thetelecommunications system 500 via the base station 504. In order tomaintain mobility management and connectivity, the core network part 502also includes a mobility management entity (not shown) which manages theenhanced packet service, EPS, connections with the terminal devices 506,508 operating in the communications system based on subscriberinformation stored in a home subscriber server, HSS. Other networkcomponents in the core network (also not shown for simplicity) include apolicy charging and resource function, PCRF, and a packet data networkgateway, PDN-GW, which provides a connection from the core network part502 to an external packet data network, for example the Internet. Asnoted above, the operation of the various elements of the communicationssystem 500 shown in FIG. 5 may be broadly conventional, for example inaccordance with established telecoms standards and the principles setout in the referenced documents mentioned herein, apart from wheremodified to provide functionality in accordance with embodiments of thepresent disclosure as discussed herein.

In this example, it is assumed the first terminal device 506 is aconventional smartphone type terminal device communicating with the basestation 504 in a conventional manner. This conventional terminal device506 comprises a transceiver unit 506 a for transmission and reception ofwireless signals and a processor unit 506 b configured to control thedevice 506. The processor unit 506 b may comprise a processor unit whichis suitably configured/programmed to provide the desired functionalityusing conventional programming/configuration techniques for equipment inwireless telecommunications systems. The transceiver unit 506 a and theprocessor unit 506 b are schematically shown in FIG. 5 as separateelements. However, it will be appreciated that the functionality ofthese units can be provided in various different ways, for example usinga single suitably programmed general purpose computer, or suitablyconfigured application-specific integrated circuit(s)/circuitry. As willbe appreciated the conventional terminal device 506 will in generalcomprise various other elements associated with its operatingfunctionality.

In this example, it is assumed the second terminal device 508 is amachine-type communication (MTC) terminal device 504 adapted to operatein a virtual carrier (VC) mode in accordance with embodiments of thepresent disclosure when communicating with the base station 504. Asdiscussed above, machine-type communication terminal devices can in somecases be typically characterised as semi-autonomous or autonomouswireless communication devices communicating small amounts of data.Examples include so-called smart meters which, for example, may belocated in a customer's house and periodically transmit information backto a central MTC server data relating to the customer's consumption of autility such as gas, water, electricity and so on. MTC devices may insome respects be seen as devices which can be supported by relativelylow bandwidth communication channels having relatively low quality ofservice (QoS), for example in terms of latency. It is assumed here theMTC terminal device 508 in FIG. 5 is such a device.

The MTC device 508 comprises a transceiver unit 508 a for transmissionand reception of wireless signals and a processor unit 508 b configuredto control the MTC device 508. The processor unit 508 b may comprisevarious sub-units, for example a VC selection unit, for providingfunctionality in accordance with some embodiments of the presentdisclosure as explained further herein. These sub-units may beimplemented as discrete hardware elements or as appropriately configuredfunctions of the processor unit. Thus the processor unit 508 b maycomprise a processor which is suitably configured/programmed to providethe desired functionality described herein using conventionalprogramming/configuration techniques for equipment in wirelesstelecommunications systems. The transceiver unit 508 a and the processorunit 508 b are schematically shown in FIG. 5 as separate elements forease of representation. However, it will be appreciated that thefunctionality of these units can be provided in various different ways,for example using a single suitably programmed general purpose computer,or suitably configured application-specific integratedcircuit(s)/circuitry, or using a plurality of discretecircuitry/processing elements for providing different elements of thedesired functionality. It will be appreciated the MTC device 508 will ingeneral comprise various other elements associated with its operatingfunctionality in accordance with established wireless telecommunicationstechniques.

The base station 504 comprises a transceiver unit 504 a for transmissionand reception of wireless signals and a processor unit 504 b configuredto control the base station 504 to operate in accordance withembodiments of the present disclosure as described herein. The processorunit 506 b may again comprise various sub-units, such as a VC selectingunit and scheduling unit, for providing functionality in accordance withembodiments of the present disclosure as explained further below. Thesesub-units may be implemented as discrete hardware elements or asappropriately configured functions of the processor unit. Thus, theprocessor unit 504 b may comprise a processor which is suitablyconfigured/programmed to provide the desired functionality describedherein using conventional programming/configuration techniques forequipment in wireless telecommunications systems. The transceiver unit504 a and the processor unit 504 b are schematically shown in FIG. 5 asseparate elements for ease of representation. However, it will beappreciated that the functionality of these units can be provided invarious different ways, for example using a single suitably programmedgeneral purpose computer, or suitably configured application-specificintegrated circuit(s)/circuitry or using a plurality of discretecircuitry/processing elements for providing different elements of thedesired functionality. It will be appreciated the base station 504 willin general comprise various other elements associated with its operatingfunctionality in accordance with established wireless telecommunicationstechniques.

Thus, the base station 504 is configured to communicate data with boththe conventional terminal device 506 and the terminal device 508according to an embodiment of the disclosure over respectivecommunication links 510, 512. The communication link 510 forcommunications between the base station 504 and the conventionalterminal device 506 is supported by a host carrier (e.g. potentiallymaking use of the full range of transmission resources schematicallyrepresented in FIG. 4). The communication link 512 for communicationsbetween the base station 504 and the reduced-capability MTC terminaldevice 508 is supported by a virtual carrier (e.g. making use ofresources within a selected one of the virtual carriers schematicallyrepresented in FIG. 4). Once the MTC terminal device 508 and the basestation 504 have established/agreed what virtual carrier frequencies areto be used for supporting communications with the MTC terminal device508 (i.e. selecting a virtual carrier on which the machine typecommunication terminal device 508 is to be supported) in accordance withembodiments of the present disclosure, subsequent data communicationbetween the base station 504 and the MTC terminal device 508 may operateon the selected virtual carrier generally in accordance with any of thepreviously-proposed schemes for virtual carrier operation. For example,the MTC terminal device 508 may operate such that all control-plane anduser-plane signalling from the base station 504 which is addressed tothe terminal device 508 is made within the virtual carrier bandwidth.Alternatively, control-plane signalling from the base station 504 whichis addressed to the terminal device 508 may be made within thefull-bandwidth of the control region 300 represented in FIG. 4, withhigher-layer data (user-plane data) being communicated within therestricted bandwidth of the selected virtual carrier.

FIG. 6 is a signalling ladder diagram schematically representing modesof operation for the terminal device 508 and the base station 504schematically presented in FIG. 5 in accordance with some embodiments ofthe present disclosure. The modes of operation represented in FIG. 6 areconfigured to allow the terminal device 508 and the base station 504 toin effect independently select which of a plurality of available virtualcarriers currently supported by the base station is to be used fordownlink communications from the base station to the terminal device 508in a virtual carrier mode.

Thus, in a first Step S1 represented in FIG. 6 the base station 504establishes configuration parameters for a plurality of virtual carriersit is to support. The configuration parameters for the virtual carriersmay comprise, for example, an indication of the number of virtualcarriers and/or their frequencies. It will be appreciated there are manydifferent ways in which configuration information relating to thefrequencies of the virtual carriers can be characterised in differentimplementations. For example, the frequency locations associated with aparticular virtual carrier (restricted frequency band) may berepresented by an indication of a centre frequency and a bandwidth, orby upper and lower bounding frequencies. In an implementation where thebandwidths of the virtual carriers are fixed/predefined, for example at1.4 MHz, the configuration information relating to the frequencies ofthe virtual carriers may comprise a single frequency value indicatingthe location of the virtual carrier in the frequency space of the hostcarrier (for example a centre frequency, or a lower or upper frequencyindicating whether the virtual carrier is located).

In this example implementation it is assumed the base station has a widedegree of flexibility in scheduling resources to be used for supportingthe virtual carrier operations. Thus, the base station may be configuredto choose the number of virtual carriers to be implemented and thefrequencies at which the virtual carriers will be located (andpotentially in some examples their respective bandwidths) based oncurrent traffic conditions. For example, if current traffic conditionsindicate the base station is required to support a large number ofreduced capability terminal devices, a higher number of virtual carriersmay be configured for use than if the current traffic conditionsindicate the base station is required to support a smaller number ofreduced capability terminal devices. It is further assumed the basestation 504 in this particular example implementation has flexibility indetermining the frequency locations for the virtual carriers that are tobe used. The base station may make this determination in accordance withconventional techniques. For example taking account of channelconditions at different frequencies. In other example implementationsthe base station may, for example, be able to choose the number ofvirtual carriers to implement, but the frequencies at which the virtualcarriers are to be located may be predefined within thetelecommunications system. For example, predefined frequency locationsmay be standardised for different numbers of virtual carriers.

For the sake of a concrete example, it is assumed here that in Step S1the base station 504 determines that it is to support three virtualcarrier at frequency locations as schematically represented by VC1, VC2and VC3 in FIG. 4. Step S1 may be repeated on an on-going basis to allowthe base station to continually optimise the selected number andfrequencies of virtual carriers in accordance with changing trafficconditions. Alternatively, the frequency parameters established for thevirtual carriers which are to be supported by the base station may berelatively static. In some examples the virtual carrier configurationparameters for a base station may be fixed. For example, the parametersmay be established and fixed during initial deployment of the basestation (for example, the relevant configuration parameters may bepredefined for the wireless telecommunications system).

In Step S2 the MTC terminal device 508 seeks initial access to the radionetwork associated with the base station 504, for example in response tothe terminal device 508 being powered on. Once powered on the terminaldevice 508 in this example initiates a conventional LTE-type networkcamp-on procedure to acquire the parameters needed to access the radionetwork. Thus, in accordance with broadly conventional techniques, theterminal device 508 synchronises with the base station's radio framestructure and decodes PBCH, PCFICH, and so forth, so the terminal device508 is in a position to be able to acquire system information (SI) usingknown techniques (i.e. in accordance with previously-proposedreduced-capability terminal device camp-on procedures in networkssupporting virtual carrier operation).

Thus as schematically represented in Step S3 of FIG. 6, the base station504 transmits system information (SI) on a BCCH (broadcast controlchannel) and this is received by the terminal device 508 as part of itsusual camp-on procedures is in accordance with known techniques.

However, in accordance with certain embodiments of the presentdisclosure, the system information broadcast by the base station 504differs from conventional system information broadcast in an LTE-typenetwork in that the system information includes additional informationon the frequency parameters for the virtual carriers supported by thebase station (as established in Step S1).

In this particular LTE-based example it is assumed this information isconveyed using newly-defined parameters conveyed in otherwiseconventional system information block 2 (SIB2) signalling. For example,one or more new information elements may be used to convey the relevantconfiguration parameters. As noted above, there are various differentways in which the parameters may be characterised for the respectivevirtual carriers, for example in terms of a centre frequency andbandwidth, upper and lower bounding frequencies, a single frequencylocation with an assumed (i.e. fixed) bandwidth, and so forth.Furthermore, the information to be conveyed can be characterised invarious ways. For example in terms of specific frequencies or in termsof index values identifying frequencies in accordance with a predefinedassociation. Thus, the exact manner in which the information is conveyedto the terminal device may differ for different implementations. Wherean indication of frequency is provided for each virtual carriersupported by the base station, the total number of virtual carriers canbe determined from the amount of frequency information provided and somight not be separately conveyed in the system information.

Thus, on receiving the system information, in particular SIB2 (systeminformation block 2) in this particular LTE-based example, in Step S3 ofFIG. 6, the terminal device 508 is made aware of relevant configurationparameters for the virtual carriers supported by the base station. Inparticular, the terminal device in this example is informed of thenumber of virtual carriers being supported, N_(VC), and their respectivefrequency locations, F1, F2, . . . FN_(VC), through the systeminformation signalling received from the base station. For example, withreference to this example implementation as schematically represented inFIG. 4, the system information transmitted by the base station isadapted in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure toindicate the base station is currently supporting three virtual carriers(i.e. N_(VC)=3) at centre frequencies F1 (for VC1), F2 (for VC2) and F3(for VC3). In this example implementation it is assumed the virtualcarriers supported in the wireless telecommunications systems are all ofa predefined fixed width in frequency space, such as 1.4 MHz, and so thesystem information provided from the base station does not need toprovide any indication of the widths of the respective virtual carriers.

In Step S4 the terminal device 508 (more specifically the processor unit508 b of the terminal device) selects one of the available plurality ofvirtual carriers (restricted bandwidth carriers) supported by the basestation as the virtual carrier on which it will assume it will besupported by the base station. The terminal device does thisautonomously (i.e. without specific instruction from the base station)based on an identifier for the terminal device. In this example theidentifier used by the terminal device for this purpose is theinternational mobile subscriber identity (IMSI) number associated withthe device. The IMSI is a number permanently associated with thesubscriber identity module (SIM) used by the terminal device. In Step S4the terminal device thus makes a selection of one of the N_(VC) virtualcarriers supported by the base station in a way that depends on theidentity of the terminal device.

In this specific example the terminal device 508 determines a remaindervalue obtained when dividing the identifier (IMSI) by the number ofvirtual carriers supported by the base station (N_(VC)) and uses this asan index value (IND) to select one of the available virtual carriers(VC1, VC2, VC3). That is to say the terminal device determines the valuefor IND according to the following equation:IND=IMSI mod(N _(VC))  Equation 1.

Thus for this example in which the base station supports three virtualcarriers (i.e. N_(VC)=3), Equation 1 provides a value for IND of 0, 1 or2. This value is then used as an index to identify one of the availableplurality of virtual carriers. For example, the virtual carriers may beconsidered as being arranged in order of decreasing frequency (or anyother predefined order) and the terminal device may select one of thembased on the value of IND. In particular, for an index value of IND theterminal device may select the virtual carrier associated with position(IND+1) in the list of available virtual carriers. I.e., if IND=0, theterminal device selects the first virtual carrier in the list (e.g.VC1); if IND=1, the terminal device selects the second virtual carrierin the list (e.g. VC2), and so on.

Thus, in Step S4 the processor unit 508 b of the terminal device 508autonomously selects one of the available virtual carriers (VC1, VC2,VC3) based on an identifier associated with the terminal device. Havingchosen one of the virtual carriers, the terminal device can establishthe corresponding frequency parameters for the virtual carrier, forexample its centre frequency (e.g. based on configuration informationreceived from the base station or from predefined associations for thewireless telecommunications system). In accordance with embodiments ofthe present disclosure the terminal device is adapted to assumesubsequent communications from the base station will be received usingthe selected virtual carrier. Accordingly, in Step S5 the transceiverunit 508 a of the terminal device 508 is appropriately configured toreceive subsequent downlink communications from the base station on theselected virtual carrier. This aspect of the processing of FIG. 6 may beperformed in accordance with conventional techniques for virtual carrieroperations in wireless telecommunications systems once it has beenestablished which virtual carrier frequencies are to be used by theterminal device.

Thus, following Step S5 in FIG. 6 the terminal device 508 has receivedinformation on what virtual carriers are being supported by the basestation to which it wishes to attach, has selected one of the virtualcarriers in which it expects to receive downlink UK is from the basestation, and has configured its transceiver in readiness for receivingsuch communications. Significantly, this has been achieved without anydedicating signalling between the base station and the terminal device.Indeed, in accordance with the example method represented in FIG. 6, theterminal device has reached this stage without the base station evenbeing aware that the terminal device is in the process of connecting tothe base station.

In Step S6 represented in FIG. 6, the terminal device 508 continues itsattachment procedure by transmitting a request to access the basestation, which in this example based on an LTE-type architecture, is aconventional RRC (Radio Resource Control) Connection Request. Inaccordance with established techniques, the request for connectionestablishment includes an identifier for the terminal device, and inparticular in this example includes an indication of the terminaldevice's IMSI. On receiving the connection request signalling in StepS6, the base station is configured to determine that the request is froma reduced capability terminal device implementing procedures inaccordance with the principles described herein. This may be based, forexample, on a device type classifier included in the connection requestor based on a network-side lookup table linking the terminal device'sIMSI with its status as a reduced capability terminal deviceimplementing methods in accordance with embodiments of the presentdisclosure.

Having received the connection request from the terminal device in StepS6, the base station is made aware of the identifier used by theterminal device when determining the selected virtual carrier in Step S4and can therefore independently determine which virtual carrier wasselected by the terminal device. Thus, in Step S7 the base station 504(in particular its processor unit 504 b) identifies the virtual carrierselected by the terminal device using the terminal device identifierreceived in association with the connection request in Step S6 byapplying Equation 1 in the same way as by the terminal device.

Thus, in Step S7 the processor unit 504 b of the base station 504independently determines the virtual carrier selected by the terminaldevice based on the identifier received from the terminal device inassociation with connection setup signalling. Having selected one of thevirtual carriers, the base station can establish the correspondingfrequency parameters for the virtual carrier, for example its centrefrequency. In accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure thebase station is adapted to assume subsequent downlink communications forthe terminal device should be made using the selected virtual carrier(i.e. the selected virtual carrier is the one on which the terminaldevice is to be allocated downlink resources).

Accordingly, in Step S8 the transceiver unit 504 a of the base station504 is appropriately configured to transmit downlink communications tothe terminal device on the selected virtual carrier (in practice thisconfiguration may simply involve a scheduling unit of the base stationstoring an indication of what virtual carrier should be used forscheduling subsequent communications with the terminal device). Thisaspect of the processing of FIG. 6 may be performed in accordance withconventional techniques for virtual carrier operations in wirelesstelecommunications systems once in which it has been established whichvirtual carrier is to be used for a given terminal device (i.e. once aterminal device has been allocated to a virtual carrier).

Thus, following Step S8 in FIG. 6, both the terminal device 508 and thebase station 504 have independently determined a selected one of theavailable plurality of virtual carriers which is to be used forsubsequent downlink communications between the base station 504 and theterminal device 508. Significantly, this has been achieved without anyadditional dedicated signalling being exchanged between the base stationand the terminal device.

Once the terminal device 508 and the base station 504 have independentlyestablished/selected the virtual carrier which is to be used inaccordance with embodiments of the present disclosure, subsequentoperations in the wireless telecommunications system may be made inaccordance with conventional virtual carrier techniques. Thus, asschematically represented in Step S9 in FIG. 6, subsequentcommunications between the base station 504 and the terminal device 508may proceed in accordance with conventional techniques for virtualcarrier/restricted bandwidth operation.

The subsequent virtual carrier operation may follow any of thepreviously proposed techniques. For example, the VC operationrepresented in Step S9 may follow an approach such as described inreference documents [2] to [9] in which downlink communications receivedby the terminal device within the selected virtual carrier (restrictedfrequency band) comprise both user-plane data and control-plane data,wherein the control-plane data comprise indications of resourceallocations for user-plane data for the terminal device on the virtualcarrier. In other examples the VC operation represented in Step S9 mayfollow a “T-shape allocation” approach, such as described in referencedocuments [10] and [11] in which downlink communications received by theterminal device within the selected virtual carrier comprise user-planedata while control-plane data comprising indications of resourceallocations for user-plane data on the virtual carrier are received withcommunications spanning frequencies outside the selected virtual carrier(e.g. in a control region spanning the system frequency bandwidth).Other modes of virtual carrier operation could equally be employed.

Thus, in accordance with certain embodiments of the present disclosureas schematically represented in FIG. 6, a reduced-capability terminaldevice 508 and a base station 504 may in effect come to an agreement asto the frequency characteristics of a virtual carrier is to be used fordownlink communications without requiring any dedicated signalling to beexchanged between them beyond that normally exchanged in a wirelesstelecommunications system.

It will be appreciated these methods of operation for the terminaldevice 508 and the base station 504 are merely some exampleimplementations in accordance with certain embodiments of the presentdisclosure. Variations and modifications to the approaches discussedabove and represented in FIG. 6 can be adopted in accordance with otherexample implementations of certain embodiments of the presentdisclosure.

For example, it will be appreciated that in some exampleimplementations, steps corresponding to those represented in FIG. 6 maybe performed in a different order. For example, the steps of a terminaldevice selecting a virtual carrier from a plurality of available virtualcarriers (Step S4 in FIG. 6) and configuring its transceiverappropriately (Step S5 in FIG. 6) could equally be performed after thestep of the terminal device initiating the RRC connection request (StepS6 in FIG. 6).

It will also be appreciated that in some example implementations theconfiguration parameters for the virtual carriers may be predefined forthe wireless telecommunications system. For example, it may bepredetermined that the base station will support four virtual carriersat particular frequency locations. In this case the terminal device maybe adapted to take account of this predefined information when selectingthe virtual carrier to use based on its identity without needing toreceive configuration parameters from the base station regarding thevirtual carriers being supported. That is to say, in someimplementations the system information communicated from the basestation to the terminal device during the initial access procedure (suchas schematically represented in Step S3 of FIG. 6) may be conventionalwithout containing any information regarding configuration parametersfor the virtual carriers. Instead the terminal device is simplypreconfigured with the relevant information regarding the predefinedconfiguration parameters to allow the selection of a virtual carrier ina step corresponding to Step S4 of FIG. 6 to be made.

In other examples the determination of the selected virtual carrier maybe based on a different identifier for the terminal device. For example,rather than using the IMSI for the terminal device, a network-derivedtemporary identifier for the terminal device, such as a cell-radionetwork temporary identifier (C-RNTI) may be used. However, it will beappreciated this would require a degree of dedicated communicationbetween the base station and the terminal device to be performed beforea selected virtual carrier is agreed, for example in order for the basestation to allocate the C-RNTI to the terminal device.

Furthermore, it will be appreciated in some examples the process ofselecting a virtual carrier may be performed more than once. Forexample, a terminal device may initially select a virtual carrier inaccordance with the principles described above when the terminal deviceis initially powered on. However, the base station may subsequentlydetermine that a change in the need to support reduced capabilitydevices (e.g. an increase or decrease in the number of reducedcapability devices requiring virtual carrier support) should be met bychanging the number of virtual carriers being supported. The basestation may thus update the system information being broadcast toreflect a change in its virtual carrier configuration parameters. Aterminal device recognising the update in system information may thus ineffect repeat Steps S4 and S5 represented in FIG. 6, while the basestation likewise in effect repeat steps corresponding to Step S7 and S8represented in FIG. 6, thereby allowing continued VC operation on thenewly-selected virtual carrier.

Thus there has been described a wireless telecommunications system inwhich downlink communications are made using a radio interface thatspans a system frequency bandwidth (host carrier) and supports at leastsome communications from a base station to least some terminal deviceswithin a plurality of restricted frequency bands (virtual carriers)which are narrower than and within the system frequency bandwidth. Aterminal device conveys an indication of its identity, e.g. an IMSI, tothe base station during an initial connection procedure as the terminaldevice seeks to access the radio interface. The terminal device and thebase station both determine a selected restricted frequency band fromamong the plurality of restricted frequency bands based on the identityof the terminal device in the same way. Thus the terminal device and thebase station select the same restricted frequency band and canaccordingly configure their respective transceivers to allow fordownlink communications between them within the selected restrictedfrequency band.

Further particular and preferred aspects of the present invention areset out in the accompanying independent and dependent claims. It will beappreciated that features of the dependent claims may be combined withfeatures of the independent claims in combinations other than thoseexplicitly set out in the claims.

Thus, the foregoing discussion discloses and describes merely exemplaryembodiments of the present invention. As will be understood by thoseskilled in the art, the present invention may be embodied in otherspecific forms without departing from the spirit or essentialcharacteristics thereof. Accordingly, the disclosure of the presentinvention is intended to be illustrative, but not limiting of the scopeof the invention, as well as other claims. The disclosure, including anyreadily discernible variants of the teachings herein, define, in part,the scope of the foregoing claim terminology such that no inventivesubject matter is dedicated to the public.

Some respective features of the present disclosure are defined by thefollowing two groups of numbered paragraphs:

First Group of Numbered Paragraphs:

1. A method of operating a terminal device in a wirelesstelecommunications system in which downlink communications are made by abase station using a radio interface that spans a system frequencybandwidth and supports at least some communications with at least someterminal devices within a plurality of restricted frequency bands whichare narrower than and within the system frequency bandwidth, the methodcomprising:

-   -   selecting a restricted frequency band from among the plurality        of restricted frequency bands based on an identifier for the        terminal device; and    -   configuring the terminal device to receive downlink        communications from the base station within the selected        restricted frequency band.

2. The method of clause 1, wherein the identifier for the terminaldevice comprises an International Mobile Subscriber Identity, IMSI,associated with the terminal device.

3. The method of clause 1 or 2, wherein the selected restrictedfrequency band is determined from a remainder value obtained whendividing a number associated with the identifier for the terminal deviceby the number of the plurality of restricted frequency bands supportedby the base station.

4. The method of any of clauses 1 to 3, further comprising the terminaldevice establishing configuration information relating to the pluralityof restricted frequency bands supported by the base station from systeminformation received from the base station.

5. The method of clause 4, wherein the configuration informationcomprises an indication of the number of the plurality of restrictedfrequency bands supported by the base station and/or an indication offrequencies for the restricted frequency bands.

6. The method of any of clauses 1 to 5, further comprising the terminaldevice establishing configuration information relating to the pluralityof restricted frequency bands supported by the base station frominformation received from the base station before or during an initialconnection procedure for the terminal device on the radio interface.

7. The method of clause 6, wherein the configuration informationcomprises an indication of the number of the plurality of restrictedfrequency bands supported by the base station and/or an indication offrequencies for the restricted frequency bands.

8. The method of any of clauses 1 to 7, wherein configurationinformation relating to the plurality of restricted frequency bandssupported by the base station is predefined for the wirelesstelecommunications system.

9. The method of clause 8, wherein the configuration informationcomprises an indication of the number of the plurality of restrictedfrequency bands supported by the base station and/or an indication offrequencies for the restricted frequency bands.

10. The method of any of clauses 1 to 9, wherein downlink communicationsreceived by the terminal device within the selected restricted frequencyband comprise user-plane data and control-plane data, and wherein thecontrol-plane data comprise an indication of resources within theselected restricted frequency band to be used for communicating theuser-plane data

11. The method of any of clauses 1 to 10, wherein the downlinkcommunications received by the terminal device within the selectedrestricted frequency band comprise user-plane data, and wherein themethod further comprises the terminal device receiving control-planedata on frequency resources from across the system frequency bandwidth,wherein the control-plane data comprise an indication of resourceswithin the selected restricted frequency band to be used forcommunicating the user-plane data.

12. The method of any of clauses 1 to 12, wherein the method furthercomprises conveying an indication of the identifier for the terminaldevice from the terminal device to the base station.

13. The method of clause 12, wherein the indication of the identifierfor the terminal device is conveyed from the terminal device to the basestation before or during an initial connection procedure for theterminal device on the radio interface.

14. The method of clause 12, wherein the indication of the identifierfor the terminal device is conveyed in association with radio resourcecontrol, RRC, connection request signalling.

15. A terminal device for use in a wireless telecommunications system inwhich downlink communications are made by a base station using a radiointerface that spans a system frequency bandwidth and supports at leastsome communications with at least some terminal devices within aplurality of restricted frequency bands which are narrower than andwithin the system frequency bandwidth, the terminal device comprising aprocessor unit and a transceiver unit, and wherein the processor unit isconfigured to select a restricted frequency band from among theplurality of restricted frequency bands based on an identifier for theterminal device and to configure the transceiver unit to receivedownlink communications from the base station within the selectedrestricted frequency band.

Second Group of Numbered Paragraphs:

1. A method of operating a base station in a wireless telecommunicationssystem in which downlink communications are made by the base stationusing a radio interface that spans a system frequency bandwidth andsupports at least some communications with at least some terminaldevices within a plurality of restricted frequency bands which arenarrower than and within the system frequency bandwidth, the methodcomprising:

-   -   selecting a restricted frequency band to be used for downlink        communications for a terminal device from among the plurality of        restricted frequency bands based on an identifier for the        terminal device; and    -   transmitting downlink communications to the terminal device        within the selected restricted frequency band.

2. The method of clause 1, wherein the identifier for the terminaldevice comprises an

International Mobile Subscriber Identity, IMSI, associated with theterminal device.

3. The method of clause 1 or 2, wherein the selected restrictedfrequency band is determined from a remainder value obtained whendividing a number associated with the identifier for the terminal deviceby the number of the plurality of restricted frequency bands supportedby the base station.

4. The method of any of clauses 1 to 3, further comprising conveyingconfiguration information relating to the plurality of restrictedfrequency bands supported by the base station to the terminal device insystem information transmitted by the base station.

5. The method of clause 4, wherein the configuration informationcomprises an indication of the number of the plurality of restrictedfrequency bands supported by the base station and/or an indication offrequencies for the restricted frequency bands.

6. The method of any of clauses 1 to 5, further comprising conveyingconfiguration information relating to the plurality of restrictedfrequency bands supported by the base station to the terminal devicebefore or during an initial connection procedure for the terminal deviceon the radio interface.

7. The method of clause 6, wherein the configuration informationcomprises an indication of the number of the plurality of restrictedfrequency bands supported by the base station and/or an indication offrequencies for the restricted frequency bands.

8. The method of any of clauses 1 to 7, wherein configurationinformation relating to the plurality of restricted frequency bandssupported by the base station is predefined for the wirelesstelecommunications system.

9. The method of clause 8, wherein the configuration informationcomprises an indication of the number of the plurality of restrictedfrequency bands supported by the base station and/or an indication offrequencies for the restricted frequency bands.

10. The method of any of clauses 1 to 9, wherein downlink communicationstransmitted to the terminal device within the selected restrictedfrequency band comprise user-plane data and control-plane data, andwherein the control-plane data comprise an indication of resourceswithin the selected restricted frequency band to be used forcommunicating the user-plane data

11. The method of any of clauses 1 to 10, wherein the downlinkcommunications transmitted to the terminal device within the selectedrestricted frequency band comprise user-plane data, and wherein themethod further comprises transmitting control-plane data to the terminaldevice on frequency resources from across the system frequencybandwidth, wherein the control-plane data comprise an indication ofresources within the selected restricted frequency band to be used forcommunicating the user-plane data.

12. The method of any of clauses 1 to 11, wherein the method furthercomprises receiving an indication of the identifier for the terminaldevice from the terminal device.

13. The method of clause 12, wherein the indication of the identifierfor the terminal device is received from the terminal device before orduring an initial connection procedure for the terminal device on theradio interface.

14. The method of clause 12, wherein the indication of the identifierfor the terminal device is received from the terminal device inassociation with radio resource control, RRC, connection requestsignalling.

15. A base station for use in a wireless telecommunications system inwhich downlink communications are made by the base station using a radiointerface that spans a system frequency bandwidth and supports at leastsome communications with at least some terminal devices within aplurality of restricted frequency bands which are narrower than andwithin the system frequency bandwidth, the base station comprising aprocessor unit and a transceiver unit, and wherein the processor unit isconfigured to select a restricted frequency band to be used for downlinkcommunications with a terminal device from among the plurality ofrestricted frequency bands based on an identifier for the terminaldevice; and to configure the transceiver unit to transmit downlinkcommunications to the terminal device within the selected restrictedfrequency band.

REFERENCES

[1] ETSI TS 122 368 V10.530 (2011-07)/3GPP TS 22.368 version 10.5.0Release 10)

[2] GB 2 487 906 (UK patent application GB 1101970.0)

[3] GB 2 487 908 (UK patent application GB 1101981.7)

[4] GB 2 487 780 (UK patent application GB 1101966.8)

[5] GB 2 488 513 (UK patent application GB 1101983.3)

[6] GB 2 487 757 (UK patent application GB 1101853.8)

[7] GB 2 487 909 (UK patent application GB 1101982.5)

[8] GB 2 487 907 (UK patent application GB 1101980.9)

[9] GB 2 487 782 (UK patent application GB 1101972.6)

[10] GB 2 497 743 (UK patent application GB 1121767.6)

[11] GB 2 497 742 (UK patent application GB 1121766.8)

[12] Holma H. and Toskala A, “LTE for UMTS OFDMA and SC-FDMA based radioaccess”,

-   -   John Wiley and Sons, 2009

The invention claimed is:
 1. Circuitry for infrastructure equipment in awireless telecommunications system in which downlink communications aremade by the infrastructure equipment using a radio interface that spansa system frequency bandwidth and supports at least some communicationswith at least some terminal devices within a plurality of narrowbandchannels bands which are narrower than and within the system frequencybandwidth, the circuitry configured to: select a narrowband channel tobe used for downlink communications for a terminal device from among theplurality of narrowband channels based on an identifier for the terminaldevice; and transmit downlink communications to the terminal devicewithin the selected narrowband channel.
 2. The circuitry of claim 1,wherein the identifier for the terminal device comprises anInternational Mobile Subscriber Identity, IMSI, associated with theterminal device.
 3. The circuitry of claim 1, wherein the selectednarrowband channel is determined from a remainder value obtained whendividing a number associated with the identifier for the terminal deviceby the number of the plurality of narrowband channels supported by theinfrastructure equipment base station.
 4. The circuitry of claim 1,wherein the circuitry is configured to convey configuration informationrelating to the plurality of narrowband channels supported by theinfrastructure equipment to the terminal device in system informationtransmitted by the infrastructure equipment.
 5. The circuitry of claim4, wherein the configuration information comprises an indication of thenumber of the plurality of narrowband channels supported by theinfrastructure equipment and/or an indication of frequencies for thenarrowband channels.
 6. The circuitry of claim 1, wherein the circuitryis configured to convey configuration information relating to theplurality of narrowband channels supported by the infrastructureequipment to the terminal device before or during an initial connectionprocedure for the terminal device on the radio interface.
 7. Thecircuitry of claim 6, wherein the configuration information comprises anindication of the number of the plurality of narrowband channelssupported by the infrastructure equipment and/or an indication offrequencies for the narrowband channels.
 8. The circuitry of claim 1,wherein configuration information relating to the plurality ofnarrowband channels supported by the infrastructure equipment ispredefined for the wireless telecommunications system.
 9. The circuitryof claim 8, wherein the configuration information comprises anindication of the number of the plurality of narrowband channelssupported by the infrastructure equipment and/or an indication offrequencies for the narrowband channels.
 10. The circuitry of claim 1,wherein downlink communications transmitted to the terminal devicewithin the selected narrowband channel comprise user-plane data andcontrol-plane data, and wherein the control-plane data comprise anindication of resources within the selected narrowband channel to beused for communicating the user-plane data.
 11. The circuitry of claim1, wherein the downlink communications transmitted to the terminaldevice within the selected narrowband channel comprise user-plane data,and wherein the circuitry is configured to transmit control-plane datato the terminal device on frequency resources from across the systemfrequency bandwidth, wherein the control-plane data comprise anindication of resources within the selected narrowband channel to beused for communicating the user-plane data.
 12. The circuitry of claim1, wherein the circuitry is configured to receive an indication of theidentifier for the terminal device from the terminal device.
 13. Thecircuitry of claim 12, wherein the indication of the identifier for theterminal device is received from the terminal device before or during aninitial connection procedure for the terminal device on the radiointerface.
 14. The circuitry of claim 12, wherein the indication of theidentifier for the terminal device is received from the terminal devicein association with radio resource control, RRC, connection requestsignalling.
 15. A method of operating an infrastructure equipment in awireless telecommunications system in which downlink communications aremade by the infrastructure equipment using a radio interface that spansa system frequency bandwidth and supports at least some communicationswith at least some terminal devices within a plurality of narrowbandchannels which are narrower than and within the system frequencybandwidth, the method comprising: selecting a narrowband channel to beused for downlink communications for a terminal device from among theplurality of narrowband channels based on an identifier for the terminaldevice; and transmitting downlink communications to the terminal devicewithin the selected narrowband channel.
 16. Infrastructure equipment fora wireless telecommunications system in which downlink communicationsare made by the infrastructure equipment using a radio interface thatspans a system frequency bandwidth and supports at least somecommunications with at least some terminal devices within a plurality ofnarrowband channels which are narrower than and within the systemfrequency bandwidth, the infrastructure equipment comprising: circuitryconfigured to select a narrowband channel to be used for downlinkcommunications for a terminal device from among the plurality ofnarrowband channels based on an identifier for the terminal device; andtransmit downlink communications to the terminal device within theselected narrowband channel.
 17. The infrastructure equipment of claim16, wherein the circuitry is configured to convey configurationinformation relating to the plurality of narrowband channels supportedby the infrastructure equipment to the terminal device in systeminformation transmitted by the infrastructure equipment.
 18. Theinfrastructure equipment of claim 17, wherein the configurationinformation comprises an indication of the number of the plurality ofnarrowband channels supported by the infrastructure equipment and/or anindication of frequencies for the narrowband channels.
 19. Theinfrastructure equipment of claim 16, wherein the circuitry isconfigured to convey configuration information relating to the pluralityof narrowband channels supported by the infrastructure equipment to theterminal device before or during an initial connection procedure for theterminal device on the radio interface.
 20. The infrastructure equipmentof claim 16, wherein the configuration information comprises anindication of the number of the plurality of narrowband channelssupported by the infrastructure equipment and/or an indication offrequencies for the narrowband channels.